Hanged by the British
A lot amongst us know 1857 as the first war of Independence, but there was a ruler who waged a war on British and refused to bow to their laws and diktats. Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century ruler of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India, a brave ruler, and a warrior, he revolted against the East India Company and waged a war against them. Veerapandiya Kattabomman was then captured in 1799 and hanged by the British.
An act of betrayal
Veerapandya Kattabomman was born in Tamil Nadu to Aadi Kattabommu and Aarumugathammal. He was 47th king of Panchalankurichi. Veerapandiya Kattabomman refused to bow down to demands of the British for agricultural tax. Veerapandiya Kattabomman revolted against the British before an act of betrayal by the ruler of the Kingdom of Pudukottai.
Widely remembered in Tamil Nadu today
There is a postal stamp, statue and a memorial in his honor in Tamil Nadu. The communication center of Indian Navy at Vijayanarayanam is named as INS Kattabomman. Though he and his story have been overlooked in the context of Indian Independence, many historians believe Kattaboman did indeed sow the seeds of courage to fight against the British.
As the clock ticks and the day starts ending, the only thing on the mind of every woman is to rush home. From literally sprinting to informing of their location every minute to the family members, women do it all. All this for just one reason – it’s not safe to be outside after the sun sets. If by chance there is even a slight delay, the family also starts fretting.
Why is being outside after a certain time considered to be unsafe? Well, the answer can be found in the question itself. It is because, as it starts getting darker, lesser women step out and hence roads are perceived to be unsafe.
Volvo beautifully addressed this via a video, set at the background of a popular old Hindi song, showing three women and sending out a simple message that more the women on the streets, more safer it will become. This video struck a chord among a lot of people, especially women who could identify with it.
Volvo, in a bid to encourage women to step out and reclaim their city spaces, organised a night walk. Mumbai Night Walk which was organised by Volvo under the #MakeYourCitySafe initiative in association with CrossBow Miles invited all the women to participate in a great number.
The mood for the symbolic march, which was held on May 19, was set up right at the beginning of event with some soul-stirring music and talks by various artists who champion the cause of equal rights for women.
In the final leg of the movement, which was the midnight walk itself was joined by Srishti Bakshi, founder and campaign champion of CrossBow Miles, who also holds a unique feat of walking 3,800 km from Kanyakumari to Srinagar in 230 days for raising awareness for women empowerment through financial and digital literacy. She is of a strong opinion that small steps lead to bigger changes. Problems like misogyny and gender stereotyping cannot change overnight and only sustained efforts towards completely removing them can bring change.
Bakshi joined the enthusiastic crowd of women marchers who walked from High Street Phoenix to Mahalaxmi Racecourse. The event had performances by spoken word poet Simar Singh, singer Abhilasha Sinha, singer-songwriter Aarifah Rebello, rapper Sofia Ashraf and award-winning singer Rekha Bharadwaj. The event saw some really acclaimed personalities like Sushmita Sen and Dia Mirza in attendance too.
This is not the first time that such a night march is being organised by CrossBow Miles. Earlier too, public night walks were organised in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Gwalior and New Delhi which were attended by 200-15,000 people in each city.
The Logical Indian congratulates Volvo on the grand success of their initiative #MakeYourCitySafe. We also hope that women leave their apprehension behind and unitedly reclaim their city spaces.
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